growing house church movement, a leading religious rights watchdog said late Wednesday, October 15.
The United States based Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), which investigates the plight of persecuted churches, said Ding Guizhen, a house church Christian in Henan Province, was released last Saturday after "15 days of so-called Administrative Detention."
But her husband, Zhang Yi-nan along with Mr. Xiao Bi-guang, remain behind bars in the notorious Detention Center of Lushan County in Henan Province, the organization reported, despite mounting international pressure.
Their case is being directed from the provincial Public Security Bureau (PSB) headquarters and the Bureau of State Security, "the Chinese equivalent of the CIA," VOM said earlier.
PERSECUTION
Like her husband, chief medical nurse Ding was arrested last month in connection with her support for the house churches in China, which in most cases are forced underground amid ongoing religious persecution, human rights workers say.
Ding told VOM contacts that she was in the operating room of the Jianghe Machine Factory Hospital assisting with surgery when police came to the hospital on September 26th.
"Public Security Bureau officers forced hospital administrators to send another nurse into the operating room, then detained Ding and drove her to her home. Officers searched the home and confiscated documents and a computer (and) then placed Ding in custody for allegedly concealing evidence," VOM said in a statement send to BosNewsLife.
"CONSPIRACY"
She was apparently held separately from her husband and was only "officially notified" last Saturday, October 11, that he would remain behind bars on charges of "conspiracy to subvert the national government and socialist system."
This charge, according to Chapter Two of the Chinese Criminal Code, will carry a sentence of at least five years in prison, and could result in the death penalty, according to VOM experts. Zhang fasted for the first eight days of his incarceration "to pray for spiritual strength to face the ordeal ahead of him" VOM explained.
Interrogators have reportedly told Mrs. Ding that Xiao also faces subversion charges. "Brother Xiao’s wife, Gou Qinghui, has still not received official notification of her husband’s arrest or charges against him, and was notified by VOM contacts of the location where he is being held," the organization added.
"FRUSTRATING"
This is obviously a frustrating situation for Sister Gou," said VOM Spokesman Todd Nettleton. "We urge the Chinese government to follow its own laws and give notification to this Christian woman, so that the legal process of defending her husband can begin."
Analysts have linked the developments to fear among Communist authorities about the spread of Christianity. With one in every five people living in China, the country has seen the fastest church growth in the world, according to Operation World, a respected study book on countries and their prayer needs.
Jiaqi Yan, a Chinese scholar and commentator who fled China in 1989 told the Voice of America recently that "there is considerable room for expansion of Christianity and other religious beliefs in China in the 21st century."
He added religion seems "to fill the vacuum due to the failure of the communist regime and the people’s need for spiritual support."
